Member Info for MarketGunslinger

So Jiff was right and the Kuwait deal was also the Tunisia deal. Fantastic news for ZEN in my opinion. The Tunisia deal was my number one target from the four that were on the table in the 12th March update on acquisitions RNS. Production revenue coming in daily from when this deal is completed.

It won't double today but it will definitely be a good day to be in Angus.

Jiff - That is brilliant information. Assuming it is correct then this means that ZEN are going to close on the Tunisian asset, which was my number one target out of the ones that were on the table.

That would be quite a result if true. Now all we need to do is hope that AC is as good on negotiating this deal as he was with AAOG.

Also, this all depends on BMD actually being correct of course.

Well if BMD is right on that then there is something completely new brewing - but with revenues of over $250 billion per annum the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation are no AAOG - what could be brewing?

Pokerchips - nothing I said was meant to be in any way critical of you or your investing strategy. There are hundreds of different ways to make (and lose) money in this game and as long as you have one that works for you and leaves you with more than you originally put in then all is good.

Personally I prefer to try and build up a free carry for long term holding (so I do not miss out on the slow risers over time) while also trading stocks which have big price movements. I do think that over time (years) the long-term investments tend to beat the trading but that is just me and there is certainly a place for both.

The most important bit of advice IMO is simply to take profit where you can. In an ideal world all investments would go like this:

1) Invest money is share "X"
2) Share "X" price doubles.
3) Sell 50% of share "X" holdings to get original cash back and leave the rest of your shares on a free carry.
4) Sell bits off the free carry as the share price rises and reinvest the original money in another share to repeat the process.

Now obviously this does not always happen as investments do not all double in value, but the principle remains the same. If you can get your original investment out and still leave some free carry in there then you cannot lose. The trouble is that people see a share going up in value and then they get greedy and think that their £10k profit will turn into a £50k profit if they hold on. Instead, what happens more often than not is that it goes back down to where it started and they end up with no profit.

Obviously you have to take risks to make money but make the risk taking intelligent and not just gambling.

Pokerchips gives good advice for the first part of this but he is trading and not investing. The technique that I am talking about is to trade until you have got something on a free carry and then leave that as an investment in a company you believe it. in this circumstance your downside has been almost eliminated.

Ezhik - I was just thinking which one I would prefer and I am in agreement with you that ti would be Tunisia. Onbiously, on paper the best asset would be the West African one with 1,000+ bopd, but the important part about that is the line that it "used to produce" that amount (ie it is no in production now). While this is not necessarily a bad thing you have to ask why, if the asset was so good, it is not producing now as nobody stops generating money for no reason.

IMO I would like it to be in the following order:

1) Tunisia 700 bopd production
2) West Africa 600 bopd production
3) West Africa 1,000+ bopd historical production
4) Italy 382 BOE

I put the historical one above Italy for the simple reason that 382 BOE is significantly less production than any of the other options and even though it is in Italy, with AC's connections I just think that we can do better.

As you said though any asset which has production and comes at a good price would be great at the moment. Here's hoping we can get another steal like Tilapia.

Well it is only really one of four options isn't it if we are to go off the Update on Acquisitions RNS from March 12th.

1) National Authority in West Africa - for a production asset that used to produce 1000+ bopd.
2) National Authority in West Africa - for a production asset that currently produces 600 bopd.
3) Onshore Tunisia - for a production asset currently producing 700 bopd with annual revenues of $15 million.
4) Coro Energy's gas & production portfolio - allowing Zenith to produce 382 BOE per day with a yearly gross revenue of E3.6 million.

Getting rid of Hall is definitely a good thing. He failed to deliver and that is all that matters.

Just to point out to everyone - I am in here, I am holding and I am looking to acquire more. I think that it is a great investment, I just don't think that anyone should get attached to any share.

In the past I have made massive paper profits on the way up only to lose them again on the way back down. Now I make sure that I always bank some profit and never fall in love with what a share might deliver tomorrow.

Rafiquetm - Being a "loyal investor" is always a bad call IMO. Invest when you think that you will make money but when you think that it is being run badly then get out. Don't get attached to a share as it is a sure-fire way to lose money.

I am not saying that you shouldn't invest here but I am saying that your loyalty should only be there as long as the company provides the chance to make money. The BoD sure as hell do not give a damn about your loyalty when bad times come.

Just my opinion...

investverysmart - good spot. It is rare that BMD has anything positive to say on small cap shares, so that on it's own is a good sign for Zenith.

However, much more interesting than the production asset that he says is on the way. If he is right then acquiring a production asset in the current climate would be a VERY shrewd move. let's hope he is right

What does he know that we don't?

AAOG is a shell company and Forum are clearly going to take it in a new direction but that is no bad thing. They are not stupid and by being willing to hand over such a potentially good asset as Tilapia for so little money, they clearly have an idea of new assets that they want to bring in which will be more beneficial to the company that they want to run going forward. It could also be a way of getting Align off the company's back. Align clearly wanted to take over AAOG, failed but as long as Tilapia was still in the portfolio they would never truly go away. I assume that Forum think that once Tilapia is gone then Align will also slowly disappear and leave them to get on with their future plans.

Good luck to you, I reckon it will work out ok. However, I am very happy to be here in Zenith at the moment. Definitely going in the right direction here.

itsagame - Again I don't disagree, there are of course some issues with the asset (and within AAOG itself) or ZEN would never have picked it up so cheaply. However, the world is full of stories of assets that one company (or one BoD) could not make work which were then turned into success stories by others for one reason or another: deeper pockets, better connections, more realistic outlooks - take your pick.

The simple point is that ZEN have picked up for £200k an asset that has the potential to be company transforming if handled correctly and, as you rightly point out, has already had $20 million put into it. Nobody says that the road ahead will be easy, and of course ZEN are going to have to deal with the debt and the $2 mil for license renewal but they do now own a very significant chunk of an asset that you have quite rightly pointed was once marketed as a $100m market cap.

What are your thoughts on investing in ZEN once this deal goes through?

Peterashbeck - I totally agree. Full credit to the ZEN board for as you so eloquently put it "the balls and money" to pull this deal off. Now if they can show the same cunning on trying to get back some of the $5.3 million from SNPC then this might be one of those beautiful deals that can make money even before the asset starts performing. Stranger things have happened,

This is an excellent announcement. Reducing a cost of purchase fee of £1 million by five times in less than four months is very good negotiating. The Covid discount it could be called.

You have to say well done to the board for this.

As soon as industry starts to get moving again oil prices have to go up. Regardless of the movement towards green economics oil is still at the core of the entire global economy and with opec throttling back on production demand will outstrip supply.

If the result of the board's investigation into Tidswell found him guilty then now is the time for Vonk to release it, as it will help swing the vote in his favour. If he does not release any negative findings then it suggests to me that there were not any and so Tidswell is being kept off the board for other reasons. This may also explain why he has chosen to try and get rid of Vonk himself now. This is a key bit of evidence for me as it will help explain a lot about what is really going on behind the scenes.

I am undecided as to who to vote for.

I am very unimpressed by the performance of the company for the last year under Vonk's management, but am unconvinced that Tidswell's nominees would be any better.

Does anyone have any information / cv on Habib and Bingham?

What is the minimum amount of bopd would make you happy.

For me 300-500 bopd.